As soon as this title was announced i was quite happy and didn't care for the fact that this was a prequel. The setting introduction with 8 assassins on Christmas eve was quite interesting and left me urge to see more and play it. Now that i have here my thoughts:

StorySurprisingly good for my taste. Characters were great and interesting and were quite similar to their comic-book roots. Story has predictable yet still surprising twist and turns. I act is kinda slow, but after that the game gets really exacting, has many awesome moments and makes me wanting to see how the story ends. Voice actors did a great job and hearing Harvey Bullock from BTAS really brought a smile to my face. But since we're dealing with a prequel the story lacked weight. Some of it's shocking moment got ruined because i know how it will turn up. It felt like a story that never really needed to be told, but still being great.

Atmosphere, SettingWell this was the first time we get to explore Gotham City (not as a prison). City is full of 100% thugs and corrupt cops no civilians what so ever (well only if the plot wanted hostages). It's said that every ones at home thanks to Christmas Eve and snow-storm, but still doesn't explain why there's so many thugs everywhere (rooftops but none inside building after you complete it). They could added some homeless people and make camps with them, but couldn't be asked i guess. New (South) Gotham is great, it has that Gotham feel but has giant walls everywhere and feels like it already has an prison city in it. Christmas De core was nice. Crime in progress was nice new system but had the lack of variety. Also they removed some gargoyles from some rooftops. Why? I don't know. Graphics are great, i have always loved the physix effects in Arkham games but in this one they were lacking in some places. Still snow storm effects and floating money when fighting were great.

GameplayThe big elephant in the room, WBM makes little changes and few new things to combat and gadgets. Although new ideas were good they weren't inputted enough (to few martial artist, big thugs felt weird). Gadgets are the same technology as in the future and for some reason better than the ones Arkham Asylum. Some gadgets made combat and predator sections feel very overpowered and seem to lose the idea of challenging the player. And this game contains lot of BUGS and some new systems (and old) have terrible design faults (mainly key bindings and The Dark Knight system). Combat is also very buggy and thanks to that is actually lesser experience than AC. Core is the same but lacks polish and ideas and feels more a DLC. Boss fights were improved having new ideas implanted. Oh and puzzles were also very easy because they were mostly recycles.

Final verdict Somewhat win or lose, i hoped more raw younger batman feeling but got very similar (DLC) experience. WBM failed with polish, creative ideas and leaving their mark on the Arkham franchise. It was still fun and i accept it as a part of the Arkham franchise, but had that unnecessary prequel thing attached.

I don't believe in scores it makes the reviews seem thumbed down. But for your amusments:

It's 5,5/10 (if the DLCs bring new creative goodys it would be 6/10)[Change the scores since the bug issues are killing the game]

Story is good at end but at beginning, it's boring. Nothing great happens and you're just gliding around Gotham City. It get better though and voice acting is pretty good. Sure Conroy and Hamill are better, but remember, they've done this for 20 years. For a first time, Smith and Baker do a good job. Story takes about 10 hours and side missions makes it +3. Batwing is good, and unlocking towers was good idea.

But what I don't like, is underused villains and again, the Joker. Black Mask was hyped for several months but we don't see him at all. Or Deathstroke. Story focuses mainly in Bane and Joker.

What about bosses?

Shiva was disappointment. HUGE ONE. Only one battle and she was combination of ninja and martial artist. She's one the greatest fighter in DC Universe. Not in this game.

Deathstroke too. Only one boss battle and cutscene at end?

And Bane has 3? Why? Good voice-acting, and wasn't copycat of Titans, but last one was disappointment.

Electrocutioner is joke.

Black Mask is underused. Good voice-acting from him too.

Joker is Joker, nothing bad at that.

Mad Hatter was good, voice-acting excellent, but was too short.

Copperhead decent, but copied too much from Ra's Al Ghul.

Deadshot too short and stupid ending.

Anarky? Disappointment.

Killer Croc? Was pretty ok.

Firefly? Awesome. He had his own place and good voice-acting but whydid he fell on same tactic over and over again?

Riddler? Meh.

But developers said they liked Freeze boss battle and wanted that players must use different tactics to defeat bosses, nope. Deathstroke: press counter button at right time, Killer Croc: use beatdown, Bane: use shock gloves, Copperhead: evade and strike. Seriously?

Gotham City is empty and lifeless, exactly opposity what developers said. Sure I understand why there isn't so much civilians because of winter storm, but I saw more civilians in E3-demo then in actual game. Also too many thugs in there. Seriously, this isn't Arkham City!

Side missions are usually just copy of AC. Anarky=Zsasz. Black Mask=Bane. Riddler=Riddler. Mad Hatter was something new.

Gameplay is actually easier then in AC and AA. In predator you have Remote Claw, which makes them easier and Shock Gloves in combat. Besides Remote Claw and Shock Gloves for non-Wii U owners, there isn't other new gadgets. Also I though they would at least change special moves. Well they didn't. It's good like in Arkham City, but that doesn't make it better.

Deathstroke DLC was also HUGE disappointment. Just copy of Robin in moves and copy of Batman in special moves. Why?

Multiplayer is solid but not like in CoD, or other multiplayer-based games. Batman and Robin move too slow and stupid. Thugs have terrible condition. But fresh idea there is though, but how they did it wasn't that good. Also there is only one mode.

At release date there were numerous bugs and glitches. My PS3 froze 5 times in 1 day. 5! And many others... I experienced more bugs and glitches in 2 days in this game, then year in Batman Arkham City.

Verdict:

This game isn't bad, but it's greatest weakness is that it's always compared to AC. And it's not better then AC.

Everything's subjective,i guess.Let's see...It's an Arkham game,did you not expect a lot of thing to be the same as the two previous games?Some boss fights,some gadgets,techniques etc.Not seeing something new is one thing,but it doesn't mean that what you actually see isn't good.Sure,the game had its disadvantages,like the underused Black Mask,Shiva and Electrocutioner,the already seen Deadshot fight(AC Two-Face) and many glitches.On the other hand,the voice acting is top notch,the story had only a few plot holes,if none at all(unlike AC) and there was only one boss fight i'm not eager to play again and again(Copperhead).Plus,there were these sequences where Batman shows his human nature...What matters most is whether you enjoyed playing the game or not.I know i enjoyed it a lot.In fact,i liked it even more than AC.There,i said it!

When the mugger or the thief stops to think twice,that is fear.That is what I am.Tonight will not be my end,but it will be theirs!

1. The fact that ac was in the game.I dont get this complaint, yes its technically the same place but it is 10 years before so it looks differnt and certain things are there that where submerged in city.

2. electrocutioner.He was a throw away character yes but he was funny plus we had the other assassins to be interesting.

3. enigma.I loved the fact that eddie was not riddler yet and that there was no fight by the end. The idea is that bruce one the battle but in making eddie turn into a complete villain he lost the war or at least began the war.

4. the plot twist.My 2nd favorite villain in comics is black mask and the reveal made me stop playing for a bit my first time through. However i have since loved it cause they nailed black mask when joker pretends to be him and in romans scenes later. They may have shafted him but at least they understood the character plus the idea of joker wearing the mask fits with the concepts of the character in a cool way and even makes city better but i wont go into that cause its all super complicated. I was fine with joker being the main villain cause unlike city they went in with him being the villain from a character level while city just made him the main villain when they had already made a plot with a different rouge who ends up getting shafted for another who ends up getting shafted by joker all in one scene.

There are a lot of other things but they arent over arcing topics other then combat which im not to knowledgeable when it comes to games. Overall i think origins is incredibly underrated.

"I'm afraid that when I walk through those asylum gates, when I walk into arkham and the doors close behind me, It'll be just like coming home" Bruce Wayne, arkham asylum ASHOSE.